Generally, a typical electrical connector includes some form of dielectric housing mounting a plurality of conductive terminals. The housing may include a mating end for interengaging a mating connector or other complementary connecting device, as well as a terminating end at which the terminals are terminated to various electrical transmission components ranging from circuit boards to discrete electrical wires. High density connectors are well known in the electronic industry as well as the automotive industry. In both industries, the ever-increasing miniaturization and high density of the circuits has created design problems in terminal spacing and configuration. An example is in a header connector which uses closely-spaced terminal pins.
For instance, the terminating ends of the terminal pins in some header connectors may be “wire bonded” to a plurality of discrete electrical wires. The wire bonding is carried out by surface connection with the use of ultrasonic energy and the application of pressure. The discrete electrical wires may have a given, sometimes short length and lead from the terminating ends of the terminal pins to contact pads on an adjacent printed circuit board. There are limitations in the length of such wires which creates design problems. In other words, in any given application, the wires may have a maximum length beyond which vibrations will cause the wires to touch each other.
Another problem involves the pattern or array of the terminal pins at the mating end of the connector. Most often, the terminal pins are arranged in rows. In order to achieve a high density pattern, the pins in adjacent rows are offset or staggered relative to each other in directions perpendicular to the rows. However, there are applications wherein offset terminal pins is not desirable. The pins may be required to be in a “square” pattern, i.e., the pins in the adjacent rows are aligned with each other. This square pattern of pins at the mating end of the connector creates problems at the terminating end of the connector where the terminating ends of the terminal pins may be wire bonded to discrete electrical wires.
The present invention is designed to solve these various problems, including the provision of a unique terminal configuration which allows the terminal pins to be disposed in a square pattern while the terminating ends of the pins are in an offset pattern.